Musings from Douglas J. McLeod, the author of the "Gary Celdom Case Journals" series, and his pen names: C.D. Melley, romance and poetry writer, and Crimson Nuage, author of the "Fiery Freedom" series.

Monday, 3 June 2013

The Division Report: June 3, 2013

My humblest apologies to my readers for being late with this past Friday's edition of The Division Report. Things always tend to get crazy here at the homestead (which is actually a hi-rise apartment) around the end of the month. That being said, here's what has been going on for the past... well, week-and-a-half.

Reading is Fun-damental: As noted in my last edition, I was in the process of beta-reading an excerpt of an upcoming novel by my dear friend, C.S. Janey. She writes contemporary romance -- a genre I'll be personally experimenting with in the near future. I'll explain my reasoning a little later. C.S. forwarded me the first nine chapters of her work-in-progress, and I must confess it is quite steamy. I intend to give a full review once I've read the finished project, but rest assured, I've liked what I've seen so far.

Everyday I'm Editing: I've slowly been making the re-edits on the latest draft of the second book in my "Gary Celdom Case Journals" series, Barbadian Backlash. As of present, I have been able to condense the first five chapters into three. I'm finding it difficult to determine where to begin and end the revised chapters as I attempt to develop a flowing pace to this work. (Miss Hired Editor, I could use some help right about now.) I am hoping to have the revised draft completed by the end of August, so I could have it sent to a few beta-readers in time for the fall foliage, and I could commence the edits for Gary's third book, Rouge Numbered Week.

The Write Stuff: Alas, I fell short of my intended goal of having my short story, tentatively entitled Dark Secret, completed by the end of May. As of writing this report, I have tallied 700 words on the piece. I will continue to plod through it in hopes I will have it finished by the end of June, for once Canada Day (July 1st), rolls around I will embark on a new literary adventure.

As I alluded to earlier, and last week, I am going to break from my usual detective/mystery genre, and commence work on a romance novel. I will be penning this as part of the July 2013 session of "Camp NaNoWriMo." The proposed work will be a tale of a young female advertising executive who's established her career in the big city. However, her life changes when her uncle passes away, and she inherits her wheat farm in rural Saskatchewan; much to the chagrin of her cousin who wants the farm to be sold. During a visit to her inherited business, our heroine meets one of the farmhands, and he sends her desires into overdrive. Can our heroine make the necessary adjustments in order to continue to make the farm profitable, and not be overwhelmed by the surroundings?

That's it for this belated edition of The Division Report. I'll return in just a few days time with the next edition.